1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods for awarding a bonus prize based on wagering on a primary wagering game or from side wagering on the bonus prize.
2. Description of Related Art
Mechanical Gaming Devices
Gaming devices allow players to play games. A large variety of such gaming devices have been developed over the years, particularly of the mechanical variety and more recently of the electro-mechanical variety. Reel-type slot machines are one well-known variety of gaming devices that utilize a plurality of cylindrical reels with various indicia around the outer surface of each reel, such as fruit or bells. Coins are inserted into the slot machine. Wagers are placed using buttons located on the front of the slot machine. The reels are spun by players pulling a lever at the side of the slot machine or by pushing a button located at the front of the slot machine. The stopping of the reels is random, the spinning and stopping being controlled by a reel spinning and sensing device in the slot machine. Payouts are based on obtaining particular predetermined combinations of indicia displayed on the reels.
Card games such as blackjack and five-card stud are played using conventional playing cards displaying various standard indicia. In casinos, card games are played on gaming devices that are semi-circular card tables. The dealer stands behind the flat side of the card table and the players sit on stools along the circular side. The tabletop includes a felt cover having appropriate areas marked for placing wagers and for placing playing cards. Holders for holding chips can be affixed to the tabletop. This is a card game of the “live” type wherein the dealer physically controls play of the card game including wagering, the dealing of playing cards, and the payoff on wagers won by players.
Virtual Gaming Devices
During the last ten or so years, virtual gaming devices have been developed. An example of a virtual gaming device is video slot machines. Video slot machines have a video screen that displays a video image of virtual reels. An electronic controller within the slot machine controls the action of the virtual reels. Wagers are placed using buttons located on the front of the slot machine. The virtual reels are “spun” by the player pulling a lever at the side of the slot machine or by pushing a button located at the front of the slot machine. The electronic controller “spins” and stops each reel in a randomly chosen position similar to electro-mechanical slot machines. Payouts are based on obtaining particular predefined combinations of indicia displayed on the reels.
Virtual gaming devices also include video gaming devices for playing card games. Video card games are played on video card machines having a video screen for displaying virtual versions of conventional playing cards. Such card games include blackjack, twenty-one, and five-card stud, though typically for only a single player to play at a time. Coins are inserted into the video card machine and wagers are placed using buttons on the front of the video card machine. Virtual playing cards are dealt using buttons located on the front of the video card machine. The virtual playing cards are dealt from one or more decks of virtual cards and are displayed on the video screen. An electronic controller randomly chooses the virtual playing cards similar to the “live” version played with conventional playing cards. The players, using buttons located on the front of the video card machine, make hits and other actions necessary for play. Payouts are based on obtaining particular predetermined combinations of virtual playing cards.
A problem with gaming devices is that player enjoyment and excitement tends to wane over time unless their interest can be maintained. This is because playing the game “gets old” after awhile and players seek excitement at another gaming device or leave the gaming establishment such as a gambling casino.
Bonus Prizes
Since the players of the various casino games prefer games that maintain their interest and that provide excitement, and the casinos want to maximize their daily cash returns from each gaming device, it is desirable to both the players and to the casino to make games as interesting and exciting as possible. The maintained interest level and excitement provides more enjoyment for the players so they continue wagering longer, resulting in higher cash returns for the casino. Heightened awareness of gaming devices by posting potential payouts and by word-of-mouth also attracts more players who tend to play longer. The result is even greater commercial success for the gaming device. Therefore, in an effort to increase player interest and excitement, some gaming devices award bonus prizes in addition to the prizes that are awarded in the underlying or primary game when a predefined event occurs.
Random Bonus Prizes
In many casino gaming devices, the bonus prize depends on a randomly generated event. An example of such a bonus game in a gaming device can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,932 issued to Adams. One of the gaming devices described in this document comprises three reels and a prize wheel. When predetermined indicia are displayed on the reels of the primary game such as slots, the prize wheel can be activated to indicate a randomly selected bonus prize. The bonus prize is awarded in addition to any prizes awarded in the primary game.
Another example of a gaming device that includes a randomly generated bonus prize is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,285 issued to Place et al. The wagering gaming device and method described in this document is for randomly selecting bonus prizes for games such as blackjack, poker, and electronic games. The device uses a computer that generates a random generated number that is compared to a predefined pay table to determine the bonus prize. The bonus prize depends on which range of predefined numbers the random number falls within.
Jackpots
One form of bonus prize is a jackpot. This is an amount of money that can be won by players of a particular casino game or group of casino games. Jackpots are very effective in raising the excitement and enjoyment experienced by the players. Many people like to win money so they can buy whatever they want rather than receiving a predetermined non-money bonus prize that they might not need or want. A large jackpot attracts more players to the wagering games and gaming devices and encourages players to play longer. Ideally, the amount of the jackpot is prominently shown on a lighted display adjacent the gaming devices on which the jackpot can be won. All such jackpots known to date in the gaming industry are of one of three types, fixed jackpots, incrementing jackpots, or random jackpots.
Fixed Jackpots: A fixed jackpot is a predetermined amount of money that does not change based on the passage of time nor based on the amount of wagers placed on the primary game with which it, is associated. The level of player interest and excitement for fixed jackpots primarily depends on the amount of the fixed jackpot.
Incrementing Jackpots: An incrementing jackpot is an amount of money that starts at a lower predetermined amount, the minimum jackpot, and incrementally increases based on a predetermined scheme. The incrementing of the jackpot stops at an upper predetermined amount of money, the maximum jackpot. There are two types of incrementing jackpots depending on the incrementing scheme used, those that are time-based, and those that are progressive. Those that are time-based increase by a fixed amount of money at fixed time intervals. Conversely, those that are progressive increase over time proportionate to the amount of the wagers placed on the primary game with which the jackpot is associated.
Both types of incrementing jackpots can do one of two things upon reaching the maximum jackpot. The jackpot can hold at the maximum jackpot for a period of time such as the remainder of the week or until won. Alternatively, the jackpot can continue to move by scrolling. Scrolling can take two forms, the first form being to always increment the jackpot upwardly. When the maximum jackpot is reached, the jackpot jumps completely back to the lower jackpot to begin upwardly incrementing again. The second form of scrolling is to increment the jackpot both upwardly and downwardly. When the maximum jackpot is reached, the jackpot increments downwardly back to the lower jackpot, to begin upwardly incrementing again in a continuous manner until won. The level of player interest and excitement for incrementing jackpots primarily depends on the current amount of the jackpot and the speed at which the jackpot is upwardly incrementing.
Random Jackpots: A random jackpot is an amount of money that can be won based on a predefined table of possible individual amounts of money to win. The actual amount of money won in the random jackpot is not determined until the time the random jackpot is won. This may be accomplished in a similar manner to that for random bonus prizes wherein each possible individual amount of money is assigned a predefined range of numbers in a table. The larger the individual amount of money, the narrower the range of numbers assigned so as to decrease the odds of winning that jackpot. The smaller the individual amount of money, the larger the range of numbers assigned so as to increase the odds of winning that jackpot. Therefore, a greater number of smaller jackpots are won than larger jackpots. The level of player interest and excitement for random jackpots depends primarily on the amount of the jackpots and the probability of winning each jackpot.
A problem with such individual fixed jackpots, incrementing jackpots, and random jackpots is that they too, over time, become less interesting and exciting to players. The only effective way to increase player interest and excitement is to increase the amounts of the jackpots, which places a heavier financial burden on the casino and reduces casino profits.
Bonus Prizes in Card Games
Bonus prizes have been added to card games of the “live” type having a person dealing conventional playing cards at a casino table. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,077 issued to Jones in which a progressive jackpot is included as a bonus component of the card game twenty-one. The players place their wager on the primary game of twenty-one. Additionally, each player has the option of making a side wager that makes the player eligible to win the progressive jackpot. If a player's twenty-one hand comprises one of a predefined arrangement of cards, then that player wins the entire amount showing on the progressive jackpot. If multiple players' twenty-one hands comprise one of the predefined arrangements of cards, then they share the progressive jackpot. The predefined arrangements of cards that constitute winning hands for the progressive jackpot component of the twenty-one game are chosen so as not to affect the strategy of play in the primary twenty-one game.
Other examples of including a bonus prize component into card games of the “live” type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,794,964; 5,913,726; and 5,795,225 issued to Jones et al. The players first place their wagers on the primary card game. Each player then has the option of making a side wager that makes the player eligible to win part or all of a progressive jackpot. The side wagers are placed by depositing one or more gaming tokens into a slot of a device provided to receive the gaming tokens. The device increments a jackpot meter that displays the amount of the progressive jackpot based on the total number of gaming tokens deposited. If during play of that hand a player is dealt a predetermined combination of cards, that player wins a pre-selected percentage of the progressive jackpot based on a predefined table of paybacks for the particular predefined combination of cards. Unwon amounts of the jackpot carry over to the next hand. The device automatically decrements the jackpot meter whenever a winning hand is paid and resets the device for the next hand.
Yet another example of including a bonus prize component into card games of the “live” type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,800 issued to Huard et al. Players place a side wager to qualify for the bonus prize component. A device then randomly chooses a winning card or combination of cards along with a person or persons eligible to win the bonus prize upon subsequent possession of the chosen card or combination of cards.
Bonus Prizes in Slots
Bonus prizes have also been added to slot machines. One example in an electro-mechanical slot machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,207 issued to Wilson, Jr. et al. The slot machine provides a payout on wins, which payout is multiplied by an incrementing multiplier when special indicia on a reel are also present on the payoff line. A counter is incremented each time another special indicia appears anywhere on the visible portions of the reels. The counter increases the value of the multiplier upon reaching a predetermined value. When a multiplied payout occurs, the multiplier is reset to a minimum value.
Networked Gaming Devices
One effort to increase player interest and excitement has been to connect multiple gaming devices in a network that awards a common bonus prize such as a jackpot. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,773 issued to Harlick comprising a mystery jackpot controller. The controller connects to a plurality of electronic gaming devices that are networked together. Each of the gaming devices is provided with a network interface that signals the jackpot controller through the network on the occurrence of a predetermined operation of each gaming device. The jackpot controller generates and awards a bonus prize of a random jackpot on the receiving of a signal indicating the occurrence of one of the predetermined operations.
Prize Wheels
Prize wheels have been used as a way of increasing player interest and excitement. A prize wheel is divided into pie-shaped segments indicating various bonus prizes. The prize wheel is manually or automatically spun and comes to rest with a fixed pointer indicating which segment contains the bonus prize won. Virtual versions of prize wheels displayed on a video screen can also be used.
One example of including a bonus prize component using a prize wheel in a traditional card game of the “live” type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,418 issued to Adams. The bonus game provides the players the opportunity to obtain a bonus prize by matching certain predefined hands resulting from the primary card game. A match permits the winning player or players to spin a prize wheel that is divided into a plurality of pie-shaped segments. Each segment indicates a prize such as doubling the winnings from the primary card game, or a second spin of the prize wheel. The winning player wins whatever is indicated by the particular segment that stops at a fixed indicator adjacent to the prize wheel. Players may be required to place a side wager to qualify for the bonus prize.
There is a continuing need for increasing the interest and excitement of casino gaming, and thus the revenues to the casinos.